MOVIES: Justice League movie confirmed for 2015

by Stephen Schleicher

With the Superman lawsuit is taken care of (for now), Warner Bros. can now move ahead with a Justice League feature film without the fear that they will lose the rights to the heavy hitter of the team. And to prove that this time, they are serious about the movie, the studio is putting it up against the Avengers.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the studio is now going to accelerate development of the movie, and get it in theaters in 2015 – the same year the next Avengers movie is scheduled to hit screens. If Warner Bros. can pull this off, it should make for an interesting summer of movies as fans can once and for all can declare who is better… (psst – not really).

The script is already in the works, but there’s no word if it is based on the same script the studio was moving forward with a few years ago before the film collapsed just before the San Diego Comic Con, or if the studio needs to find new writers. Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and David Goyer have long been writers H’wood turns to when it comes to pop culture properties (Transformers, Batman, Zorro, Blade, Ghostrider), but I kind of hope the studio finds someone with fresh ideas and a true deep understanding of the property and characters involved.

2015 is still a long way away, and until Warner Bros. sends out the first day of shooting announcement, I’m still hesitant on this announcement being solid and expect to see some fluctuation between now and opening day.

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Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment.

I have zero confidence in this movie. Outside of the recent Batman movies, Warner hasn’t given me personally a reason to think it’ll be well done. That said, I’ll still probably go watch it in theaters lol. I’m a sucker I know.

I just hope they don’t cut corners in any way. Whether it’s script, special effects, or acting. Avengers proved that very well. And to me without the heavy hitters, the movie just won’t work for me. The Justice League has always been the All Star comic of DC and it should be the All Star movie as well.

I can’t help but think of the New Year’s Costume Party episode of “The Big Bang Theory” here when they announced the winner as “The Justice League of America” and there were four groups dressed as them. Which “Justice League” version gets used? I’m thinking for familiarity and demographic purposes that they’ll probably use the current “originals” (Cyborg instead of Martian Manhunter) but my money is on John Stewart Green Lantern a’la Justice League animated instead of Hal Jordan due to the GL movies. Not that that would be bad because I have always liked the John Stewart GL character, especially in recent years.

I think they are between a rock and a hard place with these characters. The DC characters are stuck in Superfriends/Batman 60’s show land in most people’s minds. Though Reeve Superman and Batman have done OK, the rest have languished in that childish netherworld.

Do you make it all realistic and gritty? They tried that with the new 52 and they couldn’t even do the costumes the right way.

Do they go all Smallville and try to make them walk around in civvies, downplaying all the super hero costumes?

Do you make it like a full scale kid’s cartoon? Then you have a bunch of whining geek men who want to see yet another layer of “reality” slathered on their childlike fantasies.

I think it’s a very hard way to go for DC. I wouldn’t want to be the exec stuck with this decision.

If I were them, I’d cut the back story. Start the movie with the team stopping a minor threat like Dr. Light or something, introduce the characters through actions, and then move on to the main story and threat.

Only problem is going Darkseid will be too much like Thanos, which Avengers 2 is apparently aiming for.

I like DC’s heroes, but this move reeks of desperation. Warner is rushing this project, in the hopes of salvaging the DC universe.

As mentioned in an earlier post, with the exception of Reeve’s Superman and Bale’s Batman, the DC heroes have not translated well to the big screen. This is due to the shortcuts that have been taken and the cavalier attitude taken by the writer’s and directors, in regard to canon (i.e. Superman Returns). Green Lantern was a failure, due to the effects work and poor script development.

Marvel Studios did it right. They invested the right amount of time and money in the development of each individual hero, the exception being Hawkeye, before attempting to make the Avengers. They have a massive head start on DC.

I don’t any way that a Justice League movie could be a viable option at this point for Warner or DC. Warner/DC, you have two well established heroes, in Superman and Batman. You have Man of Steel coming out soon. You have your Green Lantern established. The movie stunk, but hey so did the Hulk. I would concentrate on the development of two more heroes, before attempting a Justice League movie. Wonder Woman would be my first choice, with cameos from Black Canary or Zatanna. Then The Flash, he has been neglected, for far too long, and deserves his shot at the big screen. Insert cameo from Martian Manhunter and your team is set.

I want to see a JLA movie as much as the next geek, but only if it is done right. Don’t ruin the Justice League, by trying to play catch up with Marvel. Take your time and do it right.

In my opinion, a big reason Avengers worked is because just about all the key characters had their own movies, and therefore, each character felt important and they’re coming together was a big deal.
Not to mention each movie teased the eventual Avengers flick, creating anticipation and excitement for it.

The general perception to people who don’t follow comics is that everyone in DC who’s not Superman or Batman is worthless. This will only contribute to that perception.

“BATMAN! SUPERMAN! …….and the rest.”

Marvel showed patience and forethought with their movies and it paid off big with Avengers. Warner is just seeing the “big pay off” part and not thinking about the how and why it paid off.

The New 52. Before Watchmen. Now this…it all reeks of desperation.
It’s just sad.

I hope any Justice League movie has a solid story line.
I think Alex Ross’ Justice maxi-series was a good balance, we sort of knew who all the characters were, and if you didn’t, that was ok, you didn’t need to know all the back story. And it didn’t take itself too seriously either, like some of the “gritty” takes on movies these days – Justice was just a story that I believe was told well.
Was it perfect? Probably not, but I enjoyed it.